Ship of Fools Review (FlyPengwin)
I personally believe Ship of Fools would be a better game if it wasn't constrained as a roguelike. The "wacky ship piloted by co-op partners" game was fantastically executed by Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, but Ship of Fools doesn't quite hit the same highs. The progression curve is much too slow to make Ship of Fools a good couch co-op game, and the items picked up during runs aren't really powerful enough or synergistic enough to pay off with fun builds or weird effects -- there's little dopamine to be found here after the fun of catching a bird and shooting it out the cannon wears off.
My partner and I's first 5 hours went roughly like this: we'd end each run with a few items that seemed like they could have been synergistic and we kept thinking, "if only we could have found that *one* item that would make it all come together." That item never comes. Each run we collected more permanent currencies and NPCs, slowly pushing further into the zones after we were able to afford a few cannon upgrades, but there weren't really enough opportunities to take risks or make difficult decisions in the normal pathing to create memorable runs. Each run you'll collect vaguely useful items, ending near the same spot as the last time, then you're back in the hub world looking through the alternate pathways of permanent upgrades that you'll have to grind another few runs for. After the 10th run of finding a merchant who sells items you can't afford, your co-op partner, to who you promised earlier that "this will be neat," gets up and goes to grab a snack. They don't return.
The art style, theming, and animations are all well done and I'm glad that most people tend to enjoy this one, but I personally think that it fails to deliver.